INDIAN WELLS – COMMENTATORS IN THE BOOTH EDITION

In yesterday’s post I intimated that based on the live streams that I was seeing, it was possible that women’s tennis would get little or no coverage of the combined events of the BNP Paribas Open, i.e. Indian Wells. I was wrong. Women’s tennis got lots of coverage yesterday. It would have been good though if during the cut aways from the main stadium matches, we got a glimpse of the other women playing during this tournament in the same way that it was done for the men, but that would have been asking too much of the broadcasters.

From the matches I saw yesterday, some of them left me shaking my head and others made me feel somewhat optimistic about women’s tennis going forward.
My issue today is with the commentators in the booth.

I hold no brief for any player on the WTA Tour. The only Tour player that I have had the pleasure of meeting personally is Venus Williams and since we share the same last name I have always considered myself as “holding brief” for Venus in the event that I believe that she is being negatively portrayed in the media. Not that that gets me anywhere but I will defend Venus with my last dying breath as I believe she is the epitome of professionalism and class on the WTA Tour.

Which brings me to yesterday’s commentary. I sat there and listened to Lindsay Davenport not only belittle the current World’s No. 1 but also point out how in her Davenport’s opinion Clijsters is the best player in the women’s game right now. She then went on to make the distinction between quality and quantity. The first thought that went through my mind was whether Ms. Davenport felt that way when she was year end NO. 1 on a number of occasions by amassing tons of tournament wins at tournaments that I have now forgotten while getting her behind handed to her in numerous Grand Slam semis and finals. Did she consider herself a worthy No.1 at that time? Did she think that she was better than those players who were winning majors but ranked beneath her? I am sure she felt that she was better than the others who were winning majors. After all, she was supporting the WTA Tour and turning up to all the events, she just could not get pass the finish line.

I hold no brief for Wozniacki and while I have defended her, I think she really needs to work on her aggression as well as be able to win a match rather than have her opponents lose. In yesterday’s match against Sloane Stephens, Wozniacki played a match that was not worthy of a No.1. She was defensive. She was out hit for most of the match and at some points she had no answers. At the end of the day she won the match, but she left me, a long time admirer of hers shaking my head because she should have, as a No.1 asserted herself and let the world know that this is what got her to No.1 (which I guess she did in a way seeing as she hit only 4 winners in the whole match).

Dinara Safina is not one of my favourite players. I know that there are a lot of people out there who are fans of hers. I admire her hard work and dedication to this sport that has not always been kind to her. In 2010 Safina suffered what can only be termed as career threatening injury. She had a broken vertebrae and I recall at one point seeing a tweet that she could hardly pack her luggage to leave Melbourne after retiring against Kirilenko in the Australian Open 2010.

For the next few months, we had no idea whether she would even show up at tournaments, let alone win them. Safina got little or no sympathy from the media and except for a few die hard fans and bloggers not much was heard in the way of news from Safina. At this year’s Australian Open she was completely humiliated by Kim Clijsters with a double bagel in the first round. News came recently that she had considered retiring after that loss but was talked out of it by her mother.
As a result it was in exceptionally poor taste last night while I sat and listened to Lindsay Davenport, of all people talk about what a fighter Sharapova is by coming back from shoulder surgery, while at the same time implying that Safina’s drop in the rankings was due more from lack of confidence in her game, rather than a serious injury to her back.

She then went on to talk about the fact that Sharapova had to be dealing with the issue of not having Michael Joyce around any more and how good a friend he was. If I am not mistaken I was of the view that after her humiliating loss in Auckland to Greta Arn, a player a lot of tennis fans had never heard of, Sharapova fired Michael Joyce. I guess there is only so much goodwill that friendship will get you.

At the end of the day we have 2 athletes who suffered through career ending injuries. One of them has been getting copious amounts of media ink which talk about her fight, her dedication and her hard work. The other one’s troubles have been grist for the mill for tennis writers who could care less what happens to her.

Safina said it best recently when she said that was looking forward to clay season and she hopes that tournament directors remember who she was. If that is not a sad reflection on the state of women’s tennis and how certain players are treated unfairly, then I don’t know what is.

For the past 2 or 3 years we have been hearing non-stop about Sharapova’s shoulder problems. It has been the reason for her dismal performances for the past 4 years (if you listen to Tracy Austin) and 3 years (if you listen to everyone else). In addition to her shoulder surgery, apparently her results were also caused by a virus. Could a bout of mono be far behind?

At the end of the day as a fan of women’s tennis, I would like to see equal treatment of every single player. In the same way that those in the booth describe Venus’ forehand as needing more work and how her footwork on clay is abysmal. I want them to sit in their booths and call a match as it is happening.
Anabel played her heart out last night. She eventually lost but she competed admirably. You would not have known this by the commentary in the booth last night.

Commentators, we as fans deserve better. We watch tennis because we love it. We have our favourites and our not so favourites.

Now I know why Carillo left the booth. Who needs this really?

WOMEN GET SHAFTED ... AGAIN

I hate this time of the tennis season. I really do. Most tennis watchers are really happy about this time of the year. They get to see the top players playing in the two big Masters tournaments for the men and the Premier events for the women. Me, I get pissed because while these two big events are going on coverage of the women is always either minimal or basically non-existent.

This morning the first thing I did was check the usual streaming sites. Lo and behold, we have 10 matches scheduled for today. All of those matches are men’s matches. Of course, the next thing I did was go to the schedule for today’s play. A former No.1 in Dinara Safina, struggling to come back from a serious back injury is the first match up on Stadium Court. The next match is Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion. He is also coming back from injury (wrist). The next match after Del Potro on Stadium Court is the current No. 1 on the women’s side, Caroline Wozniacki.

I have Tennis Channel and their coverage commences at 2:00 EST. I am hoping that their first match will be that of Dinara Safina, but for some reason, I am not holding my breath on that one.

I do not like these combined events. I really don’t. I think the women get shafted when it comes to television coverage as more emphasis seems to be placed on giving as much exposure as possible to the men’s side of the tournament, rather than the women.

I am hoping that I am wrong and that Tennis Channel and ESPN3 will provide coverage of the various women’s matches happening around Indian Wells and later this month, Miami, but if previous experience is anything to go by, I am thinking the women will get shafted once more.

THE WEIGHT [BURDEN] OF EXPECTATIONS

I have been watching a lot of tennis lately. A lot of it has been women’s tennis but now and again via twitter I might find a live stream and peek in at a men’s match. Recently, the media has been going crazy over Milos Raonic, a tall, lanky player that hails from Canada and who recently won his first ATP tournament, the SAP Open, beating defending champion Fernando Verdasco in the final. This was Raonic’s first ATP final. This week he is in his second ATP final in Memphis where he will be playing former No.1 and NO. 1 seed at this event Andy Roddick, who today made short work of Juan Martin del Potro.

In reading the media narrative and listening to commentators you would think that Milos Raonic is the second coming of Pete Sampras. Why Pete Sampras? Pete Sampras was the last player to win both the SAP Open and Memphis in the same year. This was done in 1996. Milos has a big serve just like Sampras and apparently he plays just as well as Sampras did. I beg to differ.

However, this post is not about Milos. It is rather about the Weight of Expectations thrust upon young players after they have had a particularly good tournament. The persons who are behind the careers of young professional tennis players need to start handling the media in a much more professional way to dim the weight of expectations being thrust upon players. Think I am being over-cautious. I set out below for your reading pleasure players who have become burdened by the Weight of Expectations:-

• In 2009, at the last major of the year, the US Open, the tennis world was introduced to Melanie Oudin. Standing 5 ft. 5 in. tall and wearing Adidas “Believe” shoes, Melanie Oudin would take out a veritable who’s who of Russians on her way to the quarter-finals of the US Open. She was interviewed by every media house. Her parents had to change the hotel where she was staying and her twin sister and boyfriend were both brought in from Georgia to see the Golden Girl of American tennis. It got so bad that at one point John McEnroe after Oudin was eventually ousted by Caroline Wozniacki, stated that the last American had been ousted. This was while Serena Williams, the defending champion was still in the tournament. Suffice it to say that since that US 2009 run, poor Melanie Oudin has hardly been able to get out of the first round of tournaments in which she is entered. Her belief which was an integral part of her game seemed to have disappeared. While she has played her part admirably in Fed Cup competition, her results have been disappointing and there is no longer talk of Oudin being the next great American player. These days Oudin hopes that she can make it out of the first round of tournaments, and perhaps even into the top 50. She is no longer being clothed by Adidas, rather she is now sporting the Wilson brand. One of the worst things that happened to Oudin during her short career was a sponsor offer of donating US$1M in the event that Oudin got to some later round of the US Open. Unfortunately, that only created additional pressure on Oudin and she was ousted in the second round of the 2010 US Open. After repeatedly losing in early round of tournaments, Oudin spoke about the pressure she felt in trying to live up to the media expectations after her run at the US Open.

• Ana Ivanovic – In 2007 Ana Ivanovic got to the final of the French Open where she lost to Justine Henin. It was not a pretty match and Henin basically handled Ana in that match. In 2008, Ivanovic made the final of the French Open once again where she faced Dinara Safina. She was able to win that match and became a Grand Slam champion and the No. 1 player in the world. After winning she was asked by reporters how did it feel to become the No. 1 player in the world. Ivanovic said that she did not know because her team had kept that information away from her during her semi and final appearances at the French. Going into Wimbledon, Ivanovic was the No. 1 seed. She lost in the early rounds after sustaining an injury to her finger. She has not been the same player since. In 2010 after battling through various injuries and needing wild cards to enter tournaments, Ivanovic seemed to have found some form. However, early on in this season she sustained an abdominal injury and lost in the first round of the Australian Open, an event where she indicated that she would have liked to reach the second week. In her next tournament she was bounced in the first round. After losing in tournament after tournament Ivanovic said that the pressure she felt in living up to the No. 1 ranking as well as being a Grand Slam champion had affected her mentally and physically.

• Jelena Jankovic. After getting the No.1 ranking at the end of the 2008 tennis season and playing in her one and only Grand Slam final, Jelena Jankovic went on a muscle building spree. At the start of the 2009 season she came on court all bulky. She lost to Marion Bartoli in the fourth round and she has not been the same player since. Her loss to the current World No. Wozniacki at Dubai Championships this year marked the first time that she had lost to Wozniacki. Confidence seems to be a thing of the past for Jankovic these days, but there is hope.

• Andy Murray carries the weight of expectation of a nation on his shoulders. After his loss to Roger Federer at the 2010 Australian Open, Murray broke down in tears and apologized for not being able to do it for his country. Tennis fans were always of the view that Murray did not really care too much about British tennis hopes but his breakdown on the podium showed us that he had the weight of expectations of a whole nation on his shoulders. He made the final of the Australian Open again this year and lost in the final. This time in straight sets to Novak Djokovic.

During her whole career players like Amelie Mauresmo were always overcome by the weight of expectations in playing before their home crowd. She recently spoke about the pressure she felt when playing at Roland Garros. Aravane Rezai and Marion Bartoli have also spoken about the pressure and weight of expectations that they experience when playing before a home crowd and expecting to do well. Roger Federer has described in detail how tough it was for him to play in Basel, which is his home tournament.

At the present time we are seeing lots of media attention on young players on both the men’s and women’s tours. The media have been doing their best to bring these young talents to the attention of fans the world over. This is good as tennis needs new and fresh blood to enliven the interest of fans the world over. These young players represent different countries. Players like Tomic (Australia), Harrison (USA), Dmitrov (Bulgaria), Kvitova (Czech Republic) and Wozniacki (Denmark) are all being touted as future Grand Slam champions.

Apart from Wozniacki, none of these players have made it to a Grand Slam final. Wozniacki has a losing head to head against the elite women of tennis. Tomic, Harrison, and Dmitrov have never played players of the caliber of Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic. They have never faced players whose repertoire of shots have left even top 5 players staring in disbelief. Kvitova made it to the semis of Wimbledon last year and while she played Serena tough in the first set, she went away in the second set. Wozniacki had match points against Serena in a tournament a few years ago but was unable to translate that into a victory.

The media needs to allow these players to develop at their own pace. We seem to all be forgetting the weight and/or burden of expectations that was placed on poor Richard Gasquet. He was given the name “Baby Federer”. Today, Grigor Dmitrov has been blessed (or is it cursed) with that moniker. A few years ago deBakker, a young Dutch man, was being touted as the next big thing and can we forget the next Nadal, a young lefty from Brazil by the name of Thomaz Bellucci. He was expected to do exceptionally well on clay. He is currently ranked at No. 36 but has not been able to gain much momentum in either the Masters Series tournaments or at the majors.

I think the media should allow these young players to develop their games before we all start anointing them the next Federer, Sampras, Nadal, or even Serena. Each of these players developed their skill set over a period of time. Allow these players to do the same or we will end up with a bunch of shows or articles titled “Where are they now” or “Remember When …”

And So It Goes

So Pete Bodo, respected tennis writer and media practitioner writes an article on women's tennis in which he describes Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki as "rosy cheeked women akin to milkmaids who seem like they can do some chores". Apart from CNote on twitter not many journalists and/or media practitioners have found fault with Bodo's headline and/or his article in general.

I am not surprised by this. Know why I am not surprised by this? When commentators continue to describe Li Na and others like her who are married women as girls, when the WTA continues to allow on-court coaching which shows accomplished professional women seeking advice from men who have never in their lives accomplished much in the way of tennis, when professional women, instead of marketing themselves as strong, intelligent women, allow themselves to be shown in media portrayals as sex kittens, then and only then will the media, made up largely of chauvinistic white men to begin with, start looking at them as professional women, and not as jolly milk maids.

For the last few months, commentators at Pete Bodo's blog have been taking him to task for the throw away nature of his writing. Most are of the view that he has become bored or there is not much to write about in terms of tennis. However, a look at his recent articles on the men's game shows someone who is at least still invested and interested in the sport.

Recent articles on 5 male contenders were well written, albeit a little more research could have gone into the article. Women's tennis seems to take a backseat at Tennis World these days and this is quite surprising seeing as the women's game is generating more viewers than the men's game. The recently concluded Australian Open indicated that more people tuned into the women's final than they did the men's. This is a sad indictment on the men's game as the final was between the 2 heir apparent to Federer and Nadal. The last time the women's game out matched the men was in the early 2000s when Venus and Serena ruled the tennis world.

Most fans have become jaded by the Nadal/Federer juggernaut. They have become boring and fans of men's tennis are now looking for the next big thing. Women's tennis however is doing quite fine if the WTA could only get out of its own way and promote the Tour in the way it should be promoted. The WTA seems to have this idea that if they promote 1 or 2 players then fans will come. No, if you promote the whole Tour, then fans will come.

The WTA product is an excellent one. Fans may describe the style of play as ball bashing, but at least it is much better than the serve fests that are generated in the men's game.

I wish that media practitioners would look at the women's game as a professional body rather than a whole host of "girls" running around in little skirts hitting a ball and generating some kind of penis rise from men in the stands and the press room.

Treat the WTA ladies on as equal a footing as you do the men. After all I have not heard anyone describe any of the men on the ATP Tour as men who seem like they would be good studs or some such.

THE END OF AN ERA

In 1994 I came to Venus via Venus Ebony Starr Williams. A tall, long legged, African-American tennis player from Compton, California.

Venus and her little sister Serena were trained by their parents Richard and Oracene Williams in the public parks of Compton, California to play the elitist sport of tennis.

They came and they took names with their athletic, powerful, and take no prisoners form of tennis.

In July 2010, after winning Wimbledon in 2010, Serena Williams sustained an injury to her right foot. She would go on to withdraw from the USO Series that year, the US Open and the Australian Open of 2011 as a result of that cut on her foot. She has required 2 surgeries so far and the last thing that this blogger heard was that she had sustained an infection in her right toe which could be career threatening.

During all this drama, her big sister Venus played her last match at the USO, losing in the semis to the eventual winner, Kim Clijsters, in a hard fought semi-final match. That would be Venus' last match for the 2010 tennis season.

During her second round match at the Australian Open, Venus was moving forward to hit her usual high backhand volley and injured her psoas muscle. Venus would go on to receive treatment and come back and win the next 2 sets and move on to the third round.

Today, for the first time in 257 career singles matches at the Australian Open, Venus Williams had to retire against Andrea Petkovic.

Today, 21 January 2011 is for me the beginning of an end of era. It is not only that both women are the women who brought me to tennis, it will also signal my first sign of withdrawal from the sport of tennis.

Gone are the days when sportsmanship and professional courtesy was the hallmark of tennis fans worldwide. Today, an injured opponent was booed by the Australian Open crowd. This is not the first time that this has happened. It happened at Wimbledon in 2010, when due to a mix up by Wimbledon organisers, there was no escort sent to Venus Williams. She then decided to leave by herself and make her way to the court for her match against Jamila Groth. Upon her arrival at the court, she was booed throughout the match.

In 2003, after Serena Williams came back from 5-1 down against Kim Clijsters, a player who had been adopted by the Australian crowd because of her relationship at the time with Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, she was booed for showing heart and grit and showing us what a fighter she is by being booed by the Australian Open crowd.

Tennis fans the world over are free to voice their feelings about players that they like or dislike, but ever since these 2 women made their debut on the women's tour, their games, attitudes, personalities, playing style, commitment to the game, and everything else has been fodder for tennis fans, commentators, so-called experts, bloggers and even the players themselves.

I don't think I have ever read anywhere where either Venus or Serena have proclaimed a player to be dead, or old or no longer relevant, but I have sat and listened to commentators who should know better proclaim these 2 women dead and buried for most of their long and fruitful careers.

With today's exit of Venus Williams from the Australian via retirement, will mark the first time in a long while that no American woman has been in the second week of a major, and indeed the Australian Open.

Fans of tennis, especially those who live in the States should ensure that both Williams Sisters play for a very long time to come, because without the Williams Sisters in tournaments, coverage of tennis, and in particular women's tennis will die a natural death.

As much as some will tell you that the Ivanovics and Sharapovas and Petkovics of the tennis world are popular amongst fans, at the end of the day American advertisers and television networks cater to an American audience and the best way to do this is to showcase American players.

Even though I am not an American, most of my coverage of tennis is derived from American television. When the Sisters go, as I believe they will be doing very soon, then so will television coverage.

During this year's tennis season most of the tournaments that were once divided into men's and women's have been consolidated. It will be instructive to see who gets coverage when both men and women play. Already, at tournaments like Madrid, Indian Wells and the Sony Ericsson Open, we see more of the men than we do the women. With the absence of Venus and Serena, all we will be getting is perhaps highlight reels or if you are still a fan of the game, having to try and source livestreams from the internet.

I am hoping that this is not the case, but from where I am sitting how can it not be?

Coverage of Women's Sports

As most of you know this blog is primarily about the lack of coverage of women's tennis in the mainstream media. However, recently, I have been seeing quite a number of articles being written about women's sports in general and about the paucity of coverage that mainstream media allows.

This article appeared today on twitter. It was the second article in as many days that looked at the issue of media coverage of women's sports. Both articles dealt with the University of Connecticut's women's basketball team's historic achievement of 89 straight wins. This achievement surpassed that of the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team's 88 straight games.

I shook my head when I read the article as for the past year I have been bemoaning the lack of coverage of women's tennis. While I did not get much feedback from the mainstream media, or indeed of many tennis fans, I had to raise my eyebrows now because finally some in the media are waking up to the fact that women's sports is getting short shrift in the media.

One of the problems with the media's portrayal of women's sports, and indeed women's tennis, is the way in which commentators convey the message to viewers. Consider for example the narrative that is written about Nadal and Federer. If Nadal is injured or he has had a very convincing win, he is lauded as being exceptional in his sport, talented, a fighter. Even if he double faults on match points, it is mostly stated that he was going big on a second serve which is why he missed. When Nadal loses a tennis match, the media attributes the loss fairly or unfairly to injury or tiredness because of the long season etc.

However, put Dinara Safina, a former No. 1 on the women's side who has been sidelined since the Australian Open this year with a bad back (matter of fact it was a disc in her back that has gone terribly awry), she double faults, and what you get in the commentary booth is her lack of technique, lack of mental toughness, inability to actually hold serve, or taken over by the occassion.

Women in sports are being compared to men. I cannot recall watching a football match and seeing Tony Romo fail to throw the football in a way that his receivers can make a play, I have never heard the commentators talk about his lack of mental toughness, but if there was a woman who has had the seasons that Tony Romo has had in the past few years, people would have been calling for her to go and that she is not fit to lead the team.

The double standards that exists in our world have permeated all of sport for the longest time. Men are given endorsements despite their dismal performances. Women are given endorsements not because of their achievements on the court, but whether they are able to sell the product or not. Female athletes are glossed up and shown to be sex kittens, rather than athletes.

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in women who are athletes showing that they are not only feminine but tough as nails, but apart from Serena Williams, I cannot recall any of the current female players in the WTA being portrayed as kick ass, tough or other attribute that they actually have to display on court in order to win a match.

The clothes that are being made for today's athletes leave little to the imagination. Perhaps the way to raise interest in women's sports like basketball, softball etc is to have the women play in itty bitty pieces of clothing and air it just before the latest outdoor fishing competition or poker game and maybe that will generate interest.

Also, it may behove those female athletes who insist on being photographed in full stripper mode, put their foot down and insist that while they realise that wielding a racquet with a fierce look may not sell the latest handbag or shoes, perhaps at some point, some enterprising photographer could perhaps take a chance and try. You never know, you may be surprised at the results.

After Serena Williams won the Australian Open in 2007, Nike launched a http://www.nike.com/nikewomen/us/v2/media/downloads/wallpapers/serena_1.jpg campaign that said everything fans of this great player already knew.
http://tinyurl.com/24mm2nc

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Just taking this opportunity to wish everyone out in tennis land a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

Let us hope that our upcoming 2011 season brings some new story lines.

Here is my wish list for 2011

A Grand Slam title for Roger Federer
A Grand Slam title for Venus Williams
A healthy Serena Williams - the Tour is just not the same without her
A new star on the ATP
A Grand Slam title for Caroline Wozniacki
Can we please stop with the over-hyping of certain players
An end to on-court coaching on the WTA
The end of FeDal rivalries. Both men get along really well as we saw in the Match for Africa. Fans should learn to do the same
An end to the constant GOAT debate. Only idiots think that there is one GOAT

Take care everyone and enjoy the holidays with your friends and loved ones.